Hamman picked up a come-from-behind victory in his middleweight debut, and Benavidez controlled a former champ with an impressive standup game.

The featured bouts were part of the preliminary card for UFC on Versus 5, which took place at Milwaukee’s Bradley Center. The eight-fight lineup streamed on Facebook prior to the night’s Versus-televised main card.

Dollaway took a first-round lead thanks to a swift takedown and a deep arm-triangle-choke attempt. While the fight appeared over due to the deep submission, Hamman miraculously survived, though he ate some heavy punches before the round ended.

The fight’s momentum, though, shifted in the second round when Hamman stuffed a takedown attempt, ended up in top position, and rained down punches. Dollaway briefly got back to his feet, but Hamman again unloaded a barrage of blows, including a fight-ending sequence on the mat that forced a TKO stoppage at the 3:38 mark of the round.

“I came out and gave it 100 percent,” Hamman said. “I love to fight. Even when the crowd is cheering for the other guy, I get pumped. I just really enjoy it.”

It was a remarkable come-from-behind win for Hamman (12-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC), who won back-to-back “Fight of the Night” honors in a recent decision win over light heavyweight Rodney Wallace and a decision loss to Kyle Kingsbury.

Dollaway (11-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC), meanwhile, has lost two straight since a three-fight win streak that had him close to title contention.

Benavidez out-strikes Wineland for decision win

Joseph Benavidez expected to win the fight on the mat, but he’s perfectly happy to take a victory from WEC champ Eddie Wineland on the feet.

Benavidez, who’s undefeated since a failed bid at Dominick Cruz’s bantamweight title, solidified his No. 2 status with a shutout (30-27) unanimous-decision victory over Wineland in a featured preliminary-card fight.

Benavidez set the tone early with two crushing right hands to the nose. The blows apparently broke Wineland’s nose, and the WEC’s first-ever 135-pound champ gushed blood for the remainder of the fight. The constant flow repeatedly forced Wineland to paw at his face and wipe the blood away from his nose and mouth, and Benavidez often capitalized on the openings it created.

While Wineland landed some solid shots, including a crush right hand that appeared to be aided by an accidental eyepoke, in the mostly stand-up affair, he was hesitant to pull the trigger. In fact, his corner continually implored him to push the action and be the aggressor. Instead, Benavidez controlled the action and used an array of punches and kicks to win the fight – despite his inability to get the takedown.

But he was content with those failed attempts.

“He has great takedown defense, but I think I can hang with anyone standing in the division,” Benavidez said. “And he’s definitely one of the best in the division.”

Benavidez (15-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC), whose only two career losses have come to Cruz, is now 3-0 since his failed title bid.

Wineland (18-8-1 MMA, 0-2 UFC), who suffered a loss to Benavidez teammate Urijah Faber in his UFC debut, remains winless in the UFC.

Healthy Herman again wins quickly

Once ravaged by various ailments, Ed Herman apparently has a found one way to avoid the injury bug: win quickly.

Herman fired off an impressive submission game from his back and ultimately forced a first-round tap-out from fellow middleweight Kyle Noke with a leg-popping heel hook.

After an early takedown, Herman immediately went to work. He first attempted an armbar, then a triangle choke, then an omoplata and then another armbar. Noke somehow survived and escaped each one, but as he attempted to secure mount position, Herman snatched a leg. After first torquing a kneebar, he rolled and secured the fight-ending heel hook at the 4:15 mark of the opening round.

The painful submission crippled Noke, who remained on the mat for several minutes. He eventually needed his corner’s help to exit the cage.

“I was trying to attack (from the bottom),” said Herman, who said he heard Noke’s knee pop. “He’s a tough opponent. He was fighting real hard down there, and he made it hard on me, but I got the win, baby.”

Since a two-year layoff due to a serious knee injury, Herman (21-7 MMA, 6-5 UFC) is 2-0, which included a 48-second knockout of Tim Credeur back in June.

Noke (19-5-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), meanwhile, snaps a five win streak and suffers his first loss in four UFC fights.

Markes controls Vemola in UFC debut

Light-heavyweight newcomer Ronny Markes made a splash onto the UFC scene with a surprisingly easy unanimous-decision victory over former heavyweight Karlos Vemola.

Markes, one of the lesser-known members of the Nova Uniao camp in Brazil, easily handled the six-time Czech Republic national wrestling champion with frequent takedowns and a controlling top game. As the fight wore on and Vemola tired, Markes’ efforts became all the easier, though he rarely capitalized on his dominant positions.

While fatigue slowed both fighters and provided few highlights in the second half of the fight, it was a solid debut for Markes, who earned the unanimous-decision victory with 30-27 scores.

Markes (12-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) moves his current win streak to five fights with the performance. Vemola (8-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC), who opened his career with seven straight victories, how has dropped two of his past three.
Hettes impressive in action-packed debut

Jim Hettes’ streak of submission wins officially has made its UFC arrival.

The promotional newcomer took on game featherweight Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres and engaged in two solid rounds of back-and-forth, up-and-down, and evenly matched fighting. But after a close first round, Hettes got his opening in the second.

After a slick judo toss midway through the round, Hettes locked in a rear-naked choke once Caceres got back to his feet. He then improved his position once the fight hit the mat, and Caceres’ tap-out came just moments later at the 3:12 mark of the round.

Despite his memorable appearance on “The Ultimate Fighter 12,” Caceres (5-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) now likely faces a UFC release following his second straight defeat in the organization.

Miller earns slick submission win over O’Brien

After what he suspects was a broken right hand suffered in the first round, Cole Miller got a much-needed stoppage in the second when he submitted T.J. O’Brien with an impressive one-arm guillotine choke.

Facing a fellow lanky lightweight, Miller got the edge in the first round when jabs and straight rights began sneaking through his opponent’s defenses. Then, in the second round, Miller perfectly timed a left-handed counter shot to score a knockdown. He followed with stinging leg kicks until O’Brien made an ill-advised attempt to get back to his feet.

With O’Brien on his knees, Miller locked in a guillotine choke, pulled guard, and then finally rolled to top position. He continued torquing the choke with a single arm and ultimately got the tap-out at the 2:38 mark of the round.

Miller (18-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC), who followed two victories with a loss through his first nine UFC fights, rebounds from a recent decision defeat to Matt Wiman to get back in the win column. O’Brien (16-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC), who suffered a TKO loss to Paul Kelly in his UFC debut, now has dropped two straight and likely faces his release from the organization.

Volkmann tops Castillo via D’Arce-choke attempts

The D’Arce choke led Jacob Volkmann to a victory over Danny Castillo – even if he didn’t get the tap-out.

The quietly surging lightweight used frequent takedowns and sustained D’Arce choke attempts to earn a unanimous-decision victory via 29-28 scores across the board.

Castillo has his moments standing, and he delivered some especially brutal low kicks and standing elbows to the head. But Volkmann, a three-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, expertly timed his takedowns, won the scrambles on the mat, controlled the action from half guard, and secured deep choke attempts throughout the fight.

It wasn’t even to get the tap-out, but it led Volkmann to another victory.

Since losing his first two UFC fights, Volkmann (13-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) now owns a four-fight win streak in the octagon. Castillo (11-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC), a former WEC contender, snaps a three-fight winning streak, which included a UFC-debut win over Joe Stevenson back in March.

Figueroa easily demolishes Reinhardt

Edwin Figueroa successfully rebounded from his first career loss and defeated Jason Reinhardt via brutal second-round TKO in the night’s opening bout.

Reinhardt, who was making his bantamweight debut, circled away from his opponent for the first 90 seconds of the fight. He then added to the bizarreness by signaling forward his opponent while simultaneously scampering away from him. But soon after, Figueroa tagged him with a right cross, briefly worked a standing guillotine choke, escaped Reinhardt’s subsequent rear-naked-choke attempt, and then closed out the round while raining down heavy body blows to his downed opponent.

In the second round round, Figueroa used Reinhardt’s ill-fated takedown attempt to secure the mount position. He then pounded away with punches (including a few to the back of the head that went unnoticed by the referee) to force the TKO stoppage just 50 seconds into the round.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?